Thu 29 Dec 2005
The state of Ohio is a Republican disaster area. Rep. Robert Ney is mired in the Abramoff investigation and Democrats are salivating at the possibilities in Ohio in 2006. One interesting wrinkle has occurred. With the seat of Republican Sen. Mike DeWine possibly in play, Democrats have a tough primary fight on their hands. Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett, who almost picked off a House seat in a heavily Republican district in Cincinnati, has a strong opponent for the Senate nomination in Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown. Brown has run a brilliant early campaign, hiring experienced liberal organizers, wooing the party establishment who have been wary of Hackett and his movement supporters, and taking out ads on progressive Internet sites. Polls show Brown leading Hackett among Democrats but in late December, the Ohio UAW broke ranks with other labor unions and endorsed Hackett over Brown who has a solid labor record.
Am I missing something?
One part is right on the money: wooing the party establishment who have been wary of Hackett and his movement supporters. It’s obvious from the way Brown has tried to game the blogosphere that he is threatened by it. I expect that the party establishment is as well, since it reduces a candidate’s dependancy on the traditional power structures.
The question is, by treating that blogs as a threat that needs to be “neutralized” is the Democratic leadership creating a self-fulfilling prophecy? Blogs could be a useful partner to the powers that be in wrestling back control of the state. However, one thing I know about bloggers, is if you treat them like your enemy, they will become your enemy.
Many of us so called progressives wonder if the Democrats running the show in our fair state are a part of the problem. If their goal in 2006 is protecting and enhancing their power instead of promoting positive change for every citizen than that is indeed the case.
2006 will be a major year for the Ohio Democratic Party. I see it going down one of two paths: In one direction I see it as a building year where Democrats join together to take our state back. In the other I see it as a destroying year with activists, frustrated at the anemic powerhungry deadwood that run the Party coordinate their efforts and do some serious housecleaning. Choose your path.
Obviously Dottie Lynch is very clueless upon what is going on. “Sherrod Brown running a brilliant campaign?!….She obviously doesn’t know about Brown’s Bountiful Blunders.
Let Brown woo the Party Establishment…
Those are the people who have engineered the Ohio political disaster we have on our hands today.
Meanwhile, Hackett will capture the hearts and minds of Ohio voters. After all, that’s who will elect the next Senator from Ohio.
Hackett in the Democratic Primary for the U. S. Senate seat now held by Mike DeWine could be beaten by that nut case Dennis Kucinich. The voters of Ohio have taken the measure of this “movement” figure. In the general election, a Hackett candidacy (he won’t be there, folks) would prompt a landslide for whatever Republican wins the nomination.
And the Republican nominee may not be Mike DeWine. Ohio is getting more conservative each election, haven’t you noticed? I think the likely nominee will be the conservative Republican who upsets DeWine in the primary. That new conservative Republican should go on to smash whatever the Democrats offer up.
The Senate race will be closest in the general election if DeWine wins and Hackett loses their respective primaries. McEwen really does look like Democrats’ best (still losing) bet.
I wouldn’t count Hackett out. UAW would NOT have endorsed Hackett if there is no hope. Brown has had too many F..ck ups so far and I expect many more.
I also disagree with Joseph that the Senate race will be the closest in the general election if DeWine wins and Hackett loses the primaries. I think that DeWine will beat Brown something like 52-48%. However if Hackett wins the primary, I predict the opposite: Hackett 52% DeWine 48%.
It’s time to clean your crack pipe if you think that anyone in the Republican primary has a chance against DeWine. It will be a cake walk. No one has the money, party support, or the credibility to mount a serious challenge. The faithful will bleet some noise for a while, but in the end you’ll all be good little sheeple.
Interestingly, here’s what one prominant Ohio Republican blogger has to say about the Senate race:
I personally do not think that if Brown beat Hackett in the primary that this would end his political career. It appears to me that Hackett loves campaigning and has a good time doing it kind of like Clinton. This is his nitch. I think that this is what he should be doing. Even his wife knows this. I expect Hackett to run for other offices and win. He may eventually even win a Senate seat in 2010 or 2012.
Brown, on the other hand, if he loses to DeWine in the general, I expect HIS political career beyond being a congressman to be over. Dems will always remember that we had a chance to win with Hackett but we went with Brown, the Northeast Liberal, and we lost. I expect they will NEVER make that mistake again.
Seems Dotty needs to cultivate more than one source as her info is hopelessly wrong.
I agree with DrDem’s race analysis. If Sherrod is the primary winner, he’ll have a very uphill battle to win over swing voters.
Editor’s take is spot-on. This is a battle of Old Party vs. New Party. Insider vs. Outsider. The Party fears Paul Hackett because he is a threat to their old way of doing things. Brown poses no threat. He is same old, same old. Imagine the fear Charles Schumer fears about Paul Hackett usurping the ways things are done in DC? Going on Meet the Press and talking like a normal human being? Criticizing the president bluntly? They can’t control Hackett to the extent that they KNOW they can control Brown. And so they’d rather risk losing a close election by picking a weaker candidate than have their establishment threatened. They’re pathetic, and this is why the Democrats are the losing party. A vote for Brown in the primary is a vote for the Iraq War, for John Roberts, for the Patriot Act…everything the failed Democratic leadership has given us.
Paul Hackett’s only asset is Paul Hackett, but it’s a hell of an asset. That bus- Hack’s Back- will win the hearts and minds of any rural county he enters. His personality and credentials win him wide support from whoever he meets, and the media loves him for the interesting story he represents. I think this race will really come down to the newspaper endorsements. If Hackett gets the major newspaper endorsements based on his star appeal, he will win.
[...] I wasn’t the only one who wondered why anyone, let alone Dotty Lynch, CBS’ outgoing senior political editor, would say that Sherrod Brown has run a “brilliant early campaign”. Now where would she get that idea? It was gratifying to stand elbow-to-elbow with women who long ago discovered the power of their own voices. Veteran Washington reporters Helen Thomas and Judy Woodruff were there. National Public Radio’s Linda Wertheimer was, too, along with CBS News’ Dotty Lynch.. [...]
Ha. That explains a lot
Though to amend that comment, it’s probably unwise and inaccurate to correlate every positive press piece to Connie Schultz.
Ann, you’re right, the rest of it comes from David Sirota.
Take Door #2.
I can always trust Eric from Project Logic to throw some cold water on things
You’re right Eric. We need to focus on throwing your Party’s sorry asses out of office. We can clean house later.
Ohio Dems are well advised to ignore the “old school” leadership in the Party. If not, don’t expect to win anything on a statewide basis in ’06.
Hackett represents the only hope the Party has for the future.
Others might ride his coat tails if they are smart enough to follow his lead and tell Brown and the dud Party leadership to go to hell!
I know, Pounder. Sirota writes for that magazine that had the cover page puff page, and then Brown’s stint on Huff Po has to be attributed to Sirota. It’s amazing how a total of like 2 people can generate a facade of diverse support. Remember that AP report that said that Brown was garnering support of the blogs?